over the hill, from developer funselektor, is a terrific multiplayer experience akin to going on a hike with our best friends — except our boots are tires.
I didn’t know what to think about this new game at first, but boy did I end up really liking what it is and what it’s going for.
over the hill is essentially an outdoor exploration game that just so happens to use four wheels and a hitch. It’s part hiking and rambling, part discovery, all off-road, and great with friends. REALLY great. And not just in the typical co-op angle but in how it mixes together the acts and the locomotion of the acts.
Play with friends is really the focus, letting us experience both the highs and lows of trudging in the outdoors in a group. In a recent session we hit both ends of the spectrum, experiencing the whole “roller coaster of emotions” meme when coming across a random vehicle stuck in the mud. One of our crew was the first to go in after it, aiming to use the winch on the front of his ride to pull it out. Attaching to the vehicle he began pulling, or rather trying because the vehicle was so deep in the muck it was pulling him in reverse. He was stuck. Another of our team went to pull him out with their winch: they got stuck. The third in our group needed to figure out how to rescue both of our now fallen friends, so hitching to a nearby tree for stability was the best opportunity. I grab the tree, he grabs onto me, we start pulling out our buds one by one. It’s such a mall, silly thing but it’s one that’s wonderful from that subconscious human friendship standpoint, to be able to help someone, to come together.
It’s a special feeling when we get them out and then achieve the actual task we were trying to do in the first place.
It’s janky, too, on purpose. All of the controls being just slightly off and yet so simple at the same time makes us all have the same traversal problems. It’s kind of endearing in that way, like controlling an RC car in a muddy backyard with a bunch of bushes and trees and furniture in the way.
I love the visual style, I love the sunsets and the waterscapes and the sounds and the forests. I enjoy how the later areas are more than just forests — there’s an actual giant stone hand sticking out of the ground in one and the rock formations in the canyons in another are worthy of the in-game photo features.
The game really does a nice job of capturing that feeling of being lost somewhere together and then finding something really cool by accident. The way-pointing system is great for that, giving us all a location to head towards and then finding and point to things on the map along the way. It’s natural to have someone pick a direction and take the lead to get there, with the rest of us acting like lemmings along the way. It pushes us to trust that person’s intuition on their route, but then when we can’t do what they do we instinctively find a new one, straying from the group as needed.
I think I struggled a bit at first because of all of that. It initially feels like the game is fighting us on purpose, with the vehicle being a bit cumbersome in the environment and its varied, self-created paths. But as soon as we start improving and upgrading and customizing our ride, which can happen pretty quickly if we let it, it gets exponentially better. We can definitely tune the game to us rather than worrying about how our build will react. If there’s any gripe it’s that: I think a little easier onboarding or encouragement to customize our ride, or access to a more adept vehicle would go a long way. Get that in front of us earlier, let us fiddle with those things early without having to upgrade, and we’ll be okay.
That little annoyance aside, over the hill is a really good time, and the more I come back to it the more I enjoy it and want to come back to it again. It’s hiking weather, and what better way to do it than with a few friends and a few winches?
4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Great
This review is based on a code sent to the Editor by the Publisher or PR. Read about how we do our reviews here.
